


Lizzie Bennet vs. The Puppy in the Window

by wishforillumination



Category: Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-22
Updated: 2014-02-22
Packaged: 2018-01-13 08:19:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1219180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wishforillumination/pseuds/wishforillumination
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It started off at a pet shop. Well, strictly speaking, it began as she walked past the pet shop, because seriously, she thought, whoever came up with the idea to put baby animals in a window display clearly knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, they must have thought, this is how I will gain money from the unsuspecting public! I will give them PUPPIES!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic! Please take it easy on me, but I'd love any feedback at all. This is a pretty short first chapter, but I figured I'd just put it up and see how it goes.
> 
> (http://bit.ly/1nUDCkS is the puppy I imagine for this story. The picture doesn't belong to me. I actually stumbled across it on Tumblr, so I'm not sure who it belongs to!)

It started off at a pet shop. Well, strictly speaking, it began as she walked past the pet shop, because _seriously_ , she thought, _whoever came up with the idea to put baby animals in a window display clearly knew **exactly** what he was doing. Of course, they must have thought, this is how I will gain money from the unsuspecting public! I will give them PUPPIES!_

 

So it was that on that blistery winter day in San Francisco as Lizzie walked to meet Charlotte for lunch that she fell in love with a window-display puppy. And was pretty annoyed that herself for it, thankyou very much. She didn't give in to consumerism lightly.

 

Lizzie had always thought of herself as a cat person. Lydia had had Kitty for as long as she could remember, and Lizzie had never objected to the feline presence in the house. In fact, when she was knee-deep in high-school assignments and on her last legs, sometimes all it took to get that second wind was for Kitty to haughtily saunter in and wrap herself around Lizzie's ankles. _Cats_ , she thought, _were suited to her. They were quiet, but fiercely independent, and always knew exactly what they wanted._

 

And yet, here was this puppy in the window. This tiny ball of fur, mottled grey, black and a light subtle brown. With these stupid eyes that were one step away from staring into her soul. _Oh no._

 

 

 

*                                         *                                           *

 

 

"Look Charlotte- no, stop looking at me like that. You know I hate when you get all judge-y with your logic and your reason- maybe I don't WANT to be a cat person anymore. Maybe I've **changed**. People change all the time."

"I guess you have a point there. I mean, you didn't think you'd be a **Darcy** person, and look at you now. You know, you really should think about moving in with the guy. You **have** been together for 2 years."

"No, stop. You’re not bringing this up again. I don't care if it makes sense financially. I want to be independent, at least while I'm starting off."

"Your apartment is a shoebox, Lizzie. Actually, no, come to think of it, that's another good point. Even if you **did** want a dog, where would you put it?"

"It's…a tiny dog?"


	2. The Inevitability

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankyou so much to everyone who read the first chapter! It's a bit rough, I know, but I figure I need to start from somewhere! Anyway, hope you like Chapter 2!

It was the next day, and Lizzie Bennet was sitting at her desk in her apartment. Everything had been running smoothly at her office, so she had scheduled a few days to work from home. It was a lot more comfortable- tea whenever she wanted - hell, forget tea, she could work in sweatpants from the comfort of her own bed if she wanted to! And yet, despite the ideal working conditions, she just couldn't concentrate. A certain puppy had wormed its way into her mind and no matter what she did, she just couldn't get the idea out of her head. Sighing, she opened up a new internet tab and, without thought, typed "owning a dog". Best just to have a quick look, and get the idea out of her head. The page loaded, and all manner of search results came up, ranging from helpful hints to dog breeders, trainers and veterinarians. She clicked in the first one, and began to read.

*                                             *                                           *

Lizzie was pulled out of her comfortable reading state when her stomach rumbled. Surprised, she looked at the clock on her desktop. _1:15pm_. Two hours had passed, and Lizzie was still reading about dogs.

_Ugh, fine. Okay, don't say I don't listen to the universe._

She went into her tiny kitchen and grabbed some leftovers from the fridge. As she ate, she searched the name of the pet shop on her phone and dialled the contact number. "Hi, yes, I saw a dog- well, a puppy actually; a little mottled one?- in your display window yesterday, and I was wondering-yes, yes, that's the one. Really? Great! And how much? Great! I might come round this afternoon then. Thanks!"

Well, no turning back now.

*                                             *                                           *

Three hours later, after she'd **finally** managed to get some sort of work done, Lizzie was in the pet shop listening to the owner tell her all about the puppy she was about to buy.

"Should be fine in an apartment. He's honestly not going to get too much bigger. As long as you give him at least one walk a day, he'll be perfectly happy."

_Well_ , Lizzie thought to herself as she pictured her (probably too regular) walks over the now-forgiving hills, _at least that part won't be a problem._

*                                             *                                           *

As it turned out, buying enough equipment and supplies to keep a puppy happy and healthy was one thing. Actually keeping said puppy happy was entirely another. Lizzie realised this at midnight, when the whining still hadn't stopped. Being a young person of the internet generation, Lizzie had had her fair share of late nights (although, truth be told, many extended into the early hours of the morning) on various social media sites. However, now, what with her work and responsibilities, she could no longer afford such luxuries. That being as it was, she was not used to being kept up so late on week nights. She trudged out into the kitchen, where she had set up a makeshift bed for her newest house-mate, and sat down beside it. She gently picked up the puppy, who had been pacing around.

"Well then, I suppose neither of us are going to get any sleep at this rate, are we-"

She stopped short when she realised that in all the fuss, she hadn't even chosen a name for her new companion.

"Okay then…um… I guess you need a name, hey? If I were **Lydia** , I'd be calling you something crazy like- oh, I don’t know, Mr Scruff or something. Don't worry, luckily for you, you ended up with me. So I'm thinking something cute, but not, like, cutesy. Maybe Socks, or Dash, or Oliver. Actually yeah, I like Oliver. Let's go with that. Oliver. Now, how about you come in to my room. Just for tonight, though. Promise?"

And with that, she carried little Oliver into her bedroom where, admittedly, he kept whining, but not, Lizzie told herself, for as long as he surely would of if he'd stayed in the kitchen.


	3. Enter Darcy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This actually the first thing I wrote after posting my initial chapter. I saw the picture of the dog on tumblr and the little guy just stayed in my head until I wrote about him! I had the thought of having that puppy in a tiny little apartment, and that was the seed in my mind for this fic. And, of course, I always intended for this to be a Dizzie fic, so I was eager to write Darcy into it. I really hope that I have written him okay!

William Darcy got out of his town car, thanking his driver as he grabbed his messenger bag. He had just come out of a big day of meetings, but the last had thankfully run short. Hearing this, he'd immediately called for the car with the intention of surprising Lizzie with an afternoon visit.

He quickly walked up the stairs and reached her apartment, knocking gently on the door. He had a key, but was unfalteringly polite by nature. After waiting a few seconds, he softly called out her name. Hearing music coming from the bedroom at the back of the apartment, and still having no reply, he retrieved his spare key from his bag and let himself in.

"Lizzie?" he called out again. He had barely taken two steps into the apartment, however, when a tiny dog bounded towards him and promptly ran into his feet. William was startled, letting out a tiny "Oh!"

"Hey, Oliver!" Lizzie's voice called out from the back room. William heard footsteps as she emerged. "Oliver, what's up? I-Oh. William. Unexpected! Um, hi! "

She giggled at the stunned look on William's face as he looked down at the puppy and back at her.

"So, I guess you've met Oliver then!"

"I…um…I believe so. I thought you said you were more of a cat pers-"

"Cat person. Yeah, I know. I just.." She shrugged. "It just sort of … happened. Don't ask."

"I won't enquire further then. Except, who does he belong to?"

"Oh, me! That's … a thing now, I guess. Do you want to hold him?"

There was a silence.

"Lizzie, I.. um, I'm allergic."

Lizzie's face went white. How did she not know that? She scooped up Oliver and started back towards her room, words rushing out as she did;

"You are? Oh my God, I...I'm so sorry. I can't believe I didn't know that. Actually, I can't believe I didn't even think to ask you about any of this. I, well, I guess I wasn't thinking. Look, don't worry, I'll put him in my bedroom for now. Don't worry, I'll sort it out. I … ugh. Oh my God. Sorry."

She put Oliver down carefully in the bedroom and quickly closed the door as he began whining. As she did, the last thing she saw was the tiny puppy sitting still, looking quizzically at her with those big eyes. She turned around, more apologies poised on her lips. However, they immediately disappeared as she saw William standing with the tiniest of smirks on his face.

"What's that look for? I mean, I guess I made a mistake but what? You're HAPPY about that? Now I'll have to give him back. There's really no way around it. God, I just got him and he was just LOOKING at me and now he's going to do it again and- are you laughing?"

William's eyes widened. "Lizzie, my apologies. I was just kidding about the allergies. I'm not actually allergic to dogs. I … thought it might amuse you."

Lizzie looked up at him, somewhere between anger and confusion, but softened once she realised that he hadn't really meant any harm. She took a deep breath.

"No, look, I'm sorry. I'm glad you're not allergic. I really should have asked you first considering how often you are around here."

"No, I apologise. It was an error in my judgement. Still learning, I guess. May I?"

He gestured towards Lizzie's bedroom door.

"Sure, of course!"

William opened the door to the bedroom, where Oliver was waiting just inside, still whining. Oliver and William looked at each other for a few seconds, before William scooped him up in his arms and started scratching him behind the ears. As the puppy fell into a contented silence, William placed him gingerly down onto the couch.

"Wait, how did you DO that?" Lizzie asked, moving closer.

"Oh, Gigi and I had a dog when we were children. He used to enjoy that, so I thought it was worth a try."

"Well, THANKYOU! You've saved me!"

She stood up onto her toes and kissed him, and, as she pulled away, he chuckled to himself.

"What?" Lizzie asked.

"I just realised that I hadn't even said hello to you yet."

"Well then," she said, smiling as she leaned in to kiss him again, " _Hello_."


	4. Settling In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's Chapter 4! Hope you like it, and thanks for reading!

It was a comfortable Sunday morning at Lizzie's apartment. There was soft music playing from the main room, while the kitchen still held several leftover objects from the making of breakfast- a fry-pan sitting on the sink, maple syrup bottle on the cupboard and the tiniest sprinkling of flour on the floor. Lizzie was sitting on one of her two lounge chairs, intently reading the open book on her lap. William was on the chair next to her, casually examining through a document for work. The chairs had been long ago been pushed together so close that they were almost touching, and, every now and then, one of the pair would glance at the other, or reach out to lightly touch the others' hand.

The peaceful spell was broken, however, with a rhythmical scratching. No, not rhythmical, Lizzie decided, as much as constant. She tried to let it go for a little while, but, after about 15 minutes, curiosity got the better of her. She glanced over at William, who looked just as confused as her, and she got up to investigate the noise. It seemed to be coming from the back of her apartment, and so she headed towards her bedroom.

Yes, there it was. Almost like someone knocking on the door, if knocking meant 'attacking with sandpaper or claws or'- oh. Claws. Of course.

She opened the door mid-scratch, and Oliver tumbled out onto her feet. Lizzie laughed, picking him up. Lizzie realised that while she and William had been up making breakfast, Oliver must have woken up himself and got hungry. She usually fed him as soon as she woke up for work, so he wasn't used to waiting for so long. With the bedroom door having subconsciously been closed by Lizzie as she had walked out with William earlier, scratching was the easiest way for Oliver to let Lizzie know he was awake.

She carried him out into the lounge room, where William looked up from his laptop, glasses still perched on his face.

"What was the matter?" he asked, before seeing Oliver in Lizzie's arms. "Oh."

Lizzie noticed the ghost of a smile beginning to form on his face, and temporarily forgot about the puppy in her arms. As a result, Oliver started wriggling until he was free to jump out of Lizzie's arms and run into the kitchen. She looked down at her now empty arms, slightly bewildered.

"I… ah…I should-"

She gestured towards the kitchen.

"No, don't worry. I will. Please, sit back down." William stood up and walked towards the room, giving Lizzie a light smile on the way.

"Thankyou!" she called to him as she returned to her chair.

*                                           *                                                 *

One hour later, and the tranquillity had returned to the tiny apartment. The chairs, now fully pushed together, contained three occupants. On one, Darcy, laptop abandoned in favour of a book. On the other, Lizzie, now emailing Jane. And, curled up in the middle where the armrests met, a tiny mottled puppy, exhausted from the morning's activities.


End file.
